Male and Female Entrepreneurs Get Asked Different Questions by VCs — and It Affects How Much Funding They Get

A study of Q&A interactions between venture capitalists and entrepreneurs at the annual startup funding competition TechCrunch Disrupt New York City found that venture capitalists posed different types of questions to male versus female entrepreneurs. They tended to ask men (promotion) questions about the potential for gains, and they tended to ask women (prevention) questions about the potential for losses. The difference in questioning explains much of why female entrepreneurs received five times less funding than their male counterparts.

A second experiment finds that the relationship between Q&A orientation and funding is causal. Entrepreneurs who were asked promotion questions received twice as much funding as those who were asked prevention questions.

Both studies also revealed an actionable silver lining: If entrepreneurs reframe their responses to prevention questions, they may be able to raise more funds.